[Biopython-dev] "Online" tests, was [Bug 1972]

[Peter (BioPython-dev)]

bugzilla-daemon at portal.open-bio.org wrote:
> http://bugzilla.open-bio.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1972
> 
> ------- Comment #2 from bill at barnard-engineering.com  2006-03-21 03:25 -------
> I thought of this after I submitted the patch. Even though the existing test
> simply compares the output to the stored output of a previous test, this bug
> could be added as a test case such that if an unsupported change occurs to the
> Prosite format, an exception will be raised when running the test.
> 
> Add the lines to Tests/test_prosite2.py:
> 
> expasy_dict = Prosite.ExPASyDictionary(parser=record_parser)
> entry = expasy_dict['PS00079']
> print entry.accession
> 
> or some such, then regenerate the test output file.

This change would add a test requiring internet access, right?

I think BioPython has previously avoiding doing this...

Perhaps we should have some additional "online tests" for some modules - 
but handled separately so that people can test most of BioPython WITHOUT 
having a network connection (e.g. due to using a standalone machine, 
proxy complications, dialup etc).

I had wondered about this as a general point for the BioPython test 
framework (as there are lots of other modules that can fetch information 
or query online tools - e.g. online blast).

Comments?

Peter